Northern Kentucky middle schools’ performance lead over the rest of the commonwealth grew dramatically last year.
The region’s 21 middle schools saw average improvement on every report card metric released earlier this month, including gains on reading, math, science, social studies and writing assessment scores, while middle schools across the commonwealth saw average declines.
Driven by a handful of especially high performers, the gains brought by Northern Kentucky middle schools yielded an average performance score of 67.2, compared to the state average of 59.7.
See a graph comparing the region’s average middle school performance metrics compared to the state average below:
Metric NKY 24-25 NKY 25-26 NKY change Kentucky 24-25 Kentucky 25-26 Kentucky change Overall score 65.4 67.2 +1.8 63.1 60.2 -2.9 Overall rating (1–5) 3.6 3.8 +0.19 3.4 3.2 -0.24 Reading/Math 65.4 67.5 +2.2 62.2 61.9 -0.3 Science/Social Studies/Writing 60.2 62.6 +2.4 58.2 57.9 -0.3 Climate & Safety 67.5 68.8 +1.3 69.2 69.8 +0.6 EL Progress 34.1 34.5 +0.3 31.5 38.6 +7.1 Share rated 4 or 5 62% 62% 0 49% 37% -12 pts
Highlands Middle School advances writing, social studies, science
Highlands Middle School saw the biggest boost in its combined writing, social studies and science scores in the region, improving by 12.3 points.
The school ranked third in the region last year, behind Beechwood High School’s “middle grades” and Ballyshannon Middle School in Union, which saw the biggest overall boost on its report card scores of any Northern Kentucky middle school.
Highlands Middle School Principal Erika Volpenhein said her faculty took a focused approach to teaching writing during the 2025-26 school year in response to lower assessment scores in 2024-25.
The approach was to intentionally teach writing across every single class, from physical education to science. It meant all teachers, including those who don’t typically teach writing as part of their curriculum, received instruction on how to coach the skill.
Part of Highlands’ emphasis on writing also stemmed from the state’s decision to eliminate essay writing and editing and mechanics, which functions as a grammar test, from statewide assessments next year. Schools will instead create their own ways to measure writing proficiency locally.
Ballyshannon Middle School advances reading, math
Ballyshannon Middle School in Boone County saw the biggest boost in math and reading scores last school year, improving by 12.8 points. The boost was one part of the school’s 26.4-point increase overall — the single biggest leap of any school in the region.
Tichenor Middle School in Erlanger saw the second biggest boost in math and reading scores in the region last year.
Ballyshanon’s performance boost last year happened under its new principal, James Brewer, who stepped into the role after working at Conner Middle School in Hebron. When asked about how he produced such big gains, Brewer pointed to two big structural changes.
First, he changed the school’s schedule to ensure the gymnasium is open for recreation at lunch so students are able to exercise and get their energy out before the afternoon. He also instituted a uniform behavior system to support the majority of teachers who reported they didn’t think behavior was handled appropriately.
By the end of the year 99% of teachers reported they thought behavior was handled appropriately, up from 17%, Brewer said.
“It’s just about putting systems in place that support teachers and have high expectations in classrooms, and it works anywhere. So I literally did the same thing that I’d been doing at Connor for years, and just implemented them here,” Brewer said.
Brewer said he also strengthened professional learning communities, where teachers collaborate, strategize and analyze data to improve instruction. At Ballyshannon, Brewer pushed educators to focus on student engagement in the classroom.
Professional learning communities and student engagement were the same two focal points at Grey Middle School in Union, another Boone County middle school that realized big gains last year.
Grey Middle School Principal Patrick Ryan said administration started conducting shorter, more spontaneous classroom visits to observe instruction.
“We wanted to see our students having content-specific, content-rich conversations. You know, we wanted to get away from the traditional sitting there for 55 minutes, listening to a teacher. We wanted the kids doing, versus teacher telling,” Grey said.